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Thursday, May 27, 2010

Canada Post issued a set of two stamps and a souvenir sheet to commemorate 100 years of Canadian Navy.

Received this souvenir sheet on enveloped posted on day of issue by Ms. Laura Termes, Canada.

Excerpts from the Canada Post website - “The aim of the Canadian Naval Centennial is to build and strengthen in Canadians an appreciation for their navy and to promote the role of the navy within the Canadian Forces in a maritime nation like Canada. The theme is to “Bring the Navy to Canadians” and the issue of a set of stamps to honour this national institution is most fitting,” says Vice-Admiral Dean McFadden, Chief of the Maritime Staff. “A stamp tells a story and will create a public awareness of the role that the Canadian Navy has played both in war and in peace over the past 100 years. These stamps will be visible reminders that the country is served by men and women of the naval service who safeguard Canada and her values.” The flag at the right is the Canadian Navy flag.

The Naval Service Act brought the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) into being on May 4, 1910. The first day cancellation was done in Ottawa, home to the Canadian Navy’s headquarters.

The two ships depicted on the sheet are HMS Niobe and HMCS Halifax (K237).

HMS Niobe - HMS Niobe was a ship of the Diadem-class of protected cruiser in the Royal Navy. She served in the Boer War and was then given to Canada to form part of their first independent navy as HMCS Niobe. After patrol duties at the beginning of the First World War, she became a depot ship in Halifax. Damaged in the 1917 Halifax Explosion, she was scrapped in the 1920s.

HMCS Halifax - HMCS Halifax (K237) was a Royal Canadian Navy Flower-class corvette which took part in convoy escort duties during World War II. She was laid down at Collingwood Shipyards Ltd., Collingwood on 26 April 1941 and launched on 4 October of that year. She was commissioned into the RCN 6 weeks later on 26 November.

Halifax was decommissioned from the RCN on 12 July 1945 and sold later that year as the mercantile Halifax.